Building Friction (Part 21)

Matt sat quietly as I drove his car back to my apartment. He pressed his forehead against the glass of the passenger side window and looked out at the street as it passed by us. I could see the reflection of his face in the glass. He'd closed his eyes. His mouth was formed into a tight line. I just hoped that it was his expression of deep thought.

When we arrived at my place, I slowly undid my seat belt and began to slide out of the seat. "Wait," I heard him say. "I need to ask you something."

I sat back in the seat and held my breath. Matt had turned his face towards me, and the bruise on his cheek was shining a bright pink. I fought the urge to reach out and touch it. Instead I waited for the inevitable questions. My nerves were shot. I picked at an invisible piece on lint on the edge of my shorts. I couldn't meet his gaze.

"I'm not going to ask why that guy is so hung up on you. After spending time with you, it's obvious why any guy would want to be with you. You're funny, you're smart and you're beautiful. What I really want to know right now is why are you with me?" His voice was soft and low. I could feel the heat of his stare on the side of my face, waiting for my answer.

It wasn't a question that I was prepared to hear. I expected him to ask what had gone on between me and Geoff. I was gearing up for him to yell at me when I was forced to explain the kiss. I didn't even want to think about having to explain the bathroom sex. Yet he had only wanted to know what I saw in him. I raised my head and turned my face towards him. I was overcome with emotion. For myself, for Matt, and even for Geoff. For everything that was going on, and to have it all wrapped up in a question of insecurity from a man who had no reason to have any.

"Are you serious?" I asked, incredulous. "You couldn't be asking me that question right now. There are a thousand other things that you could be asking me. Things that you could be saying to me. Why would you ask me that?"

"It's a legitimate question," Matt said, shrinking back against the passenger door and staring at me.

"No, Matt. No, it's not. If you really have to sit here and ask why a woman would be interested in you, then you have some major self-esteem issues." I rubbed my forehead. The low grade headache had begun right after the fight and was now progressing into a full-on migraine.

"Well, duh. The last woman I was with, I thought I was doing everything right. I supported the choices that she made. I listened to her. We had great sex. But it wasn't enough. None of it was enough. Now I'm with you, but I'm holding back. What could possibly be keeping you with me?" His eyes pleaded with me. I'd never seen a man so serious before.

I reached out and took his hand in mine. "I'm with you because it's my choice to be with you. I'm with you because you make me laugh. You don't just cave into what everyone else is doing. You're one of the few people that I've seen be able to get along with just about everyone. And you don't have to get along with Geoff, so you get a pass on that one." Matt stifled a small chuckle at that. "There is something about you that puts me at ease. I don't try so hard when I'm around you. I don't have to constantly be on my toes. I can relax and not have to think at 3000 miles per hour in 10,000 different directions. You have no idea just how comforting that is. And I don't care if it takes you 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months or 3 years to be ready to have sex with me. After what I've seen, you're fucking worth the wait."

His clear blue eyes blinked steadily at me. His mouth began to melt from the hardened line to a small "O" of surprise. After a second, he looked down at his hands, which were twisting wildly in his lap. "Chloe...?" he started.

"Yes?" I replied quietly.

He moved across the cabin of the truck quickly and tilted his head in order to kiss me. He gingerly placed a kiss on my mouth. I accepted it as if I had been dying of thirst in the desert and it was the first sip of water I'd had in days. I moved in to return the gesture a little more intensely and then saw him wince.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I stammered and pulled back.

"No, no, no," he said. "Don't apologize. I'm just a little tender right now. That's not your fault."

I leaned in a kissed him delicately on his injured cheek. He closed his eyes when I did. "So, 3 years, eh?" He whispered in my ear when I was close.

"Well, that might have been pushing it just a bit. But I can do up to the 3 months for sure." I smiled. He let out a grand peal of laughter.

I invited him in so that he could drink some coffee and sober up. He asked to take a shower and I showed him where he could find some towels. As I listened to the water beating down on the tiles, I felt a tingle of desire in me. I most commonly would pleasure myself while in the shower, mainly for quick clean-up purposes. I glanced at the clock as I lay on my bed. He'd only been in for a couple of minutes. Most men took at least a 10 minute shower, I reasoned. There wasn't anything keeping me from rubbing one out in the time I had alloted to me, I figured.

The door to my room was closed. The bathroom was adjacent to it, but the door was in the hallway. I'd hear the water turn off and the bathroom door open before he even came into my room, I thought as I unbuttoned my shorts and slipped them down over my hips. I kicked them into a pile near the foot of my bed, keeping them close in case I needed to put them back on in a hurry.

I let my knees fall open and my hands roam between my legs. My pussy was already wet from thinking about the sex that we would eventually be having. I closed my eyes and remembered the feel of the weight of Matt's body as we had been making out only days before. My mind searched out the memory of the pressing of his erection against my thigh. He'd said that it wasn't even in full glory, and yet I distinctly remembered it being thick and insistent against my leg. The middle finger of my right hand probed into my moist pussy as the thumb pressed steadily against my clit. I let my left hand roam up and twist at one of my nipples and then drift over and twist the other.

My mouth was hanging open as I breathed deeply and started to massage my thumb into my clit in small circles. The middle finger was clamped down upon by the muscles working within me. It was almost difficult to get it to slide in and out. I worked my ring finger in as well, forcing entry. The thumb continued its magic. The heat was rising between my legs. In the back of my brain I knew that it wouldn't take long to bring myself to the ultimate culmination.

I started to thrust my fingers in and out of my hole faster and faster and push down harder on my clit. As my orgasm began to build to its peak, I heard the water turn off in the bathroom. I pinched one of my nipples hard and the waves of bliss crashed over me. My juices were gushing out onto the blanket beneath me, drenching it. My knees were shaking and my back arched. I didn't have much time to wrap it up, and I reached down for my shorts and hurriedly began to yank them back on. I jumped up from the bed and went to open the door to my bedroom as I heard the door to the bathroom crack open.

As I rushed to close the door to my room and stood in the hallway, Matt stood facing me. "Are you OK?" He asked. "You look flushed."

"I was starting to fall asleep in there," I quickly made up the excuse. "I definitely got too much sun today."

Matt walked the few steps towards me and smiled slyly, one eyebrow raised. "Oh, that's what it was, huh?" He asked, his voice a curious tone.

"Yes," I said, smirking back at him. "That's what it was."

He stood close to me and lowered his head to my shoulder. He breathed in deeply. "You smell..." he trailed off. "Ah. You smell rather intoxicating right now."

I wiggled nervously under him. "I do?"

"Mmm hmm. You certainly do." He burrowed his head into my neck. We stood in the hallway like that for what seemed like an eternity. "Man," he finally said. "I really should get going. If I stick around..."

"If you stick around, what?" I questioned.

"I don't know what would happen if I stuck around." He lifted his head and looked into my eyes. His hands came up and went to either side of my face, cradling it. "I'm sorry about everything that went on today," he apologized.

"Don't be," I responded. "What happened, happened. You really didn't do anything wrong. Sometimes shit goes down and there's nothing that could have happened to prevent it."

"I don't like losing my temper if I don't have to," he said. "I prefer to take the higher ground. But that guy really had it coming to him. I hope he's not planning on pulling anything like that with you again in the future."

I winced at the thought. "I don't think he will after today. At least, I hope he won't."

Matt stood up straight. "I really should get going. I hate to admit it, but I'm feeling a little sore and I should rest before I have to go back to work tomorrow."

"They're not going to say anything about your face, are they?" I looked at his cheek. There was a good sized lump still glowing on it.

"Nah, I'm a quick healer. It shouldn't look too bad by tomorrow morning. But that means that I need to get home now and do a little licking of my wounds." He gave me one of those macho guy smiles.

It was my turn to raise one eyebrow. "A little licking, eh?" I teased.

Matt hummed. "Oh, Chloe. Please. I'm weak. Resistance right now is extremely difficult. Don't tempt me." He lowered his head and kissed me. His tongue probed my mouth. I closed my eyes. I was becoming addicted to the taste of his kisses.

Matt gathered up his things and gave me a lingering kiss at the front door before taking off. I went to my computer to do a little writing before making some dinner and eating it while standing in the middle of my kitchen. My mind wandered over the events of the day, from the beach, to Geoff and the fight and what had been said between him and I, to the strange expression that he had on his face when Matt and I left. I still couldn't determine what exactly it was. Remorse? Guilt? In any case, my mind had latched onto it.

I checked my e-mails and discovered one from Sean. I missed having him around and it was good to hear that his family was doing well. At least someone had some positive news. I opened up a game of online spades and played a few hands before I saw that Geoff had signed into messenger. I braced myself for what could only be him having something to say to me.

The minutes ticked past and nothing came up on screen. As I finished out a winning game and went to log off, I lingered on his screen name. I didn't know if there was anything that was possibly left to say, but I still paused and stared at the blank screen. Just as I went to close it and shut the program down, a one word line appeared.

"Touche." It read. I cocked my head and scrunched up my nose. What the fuck could he mean by that? I wondered.

Suddenly more appeared. "I was a bitch today. You were right. Therefore, touche."

It was odd that he knew to explain the sentiment to me. As if he was somehow reading my thoughts at that very moment. I shook my head. There was no way that could have been the case.

"Are we done NOW?" I typed in and the hovered a finger over the enter key. If I answered, it could very well open the can of worms that would keep us from being done. My finger was still hovering when another line appeared from him.

"You were going to say? I saw the line at the bottom of the screen saying that you were typing. Spit it out, Chloe."

I paused and moved my finger from the enter key to the back space. I deleted the question and changed it to a new one. "We're never going to have an acceptable ending to this, are we?" I typed and then quickly hit enter before I could second guess myself.

"I don't think so, no." The line was short and the words seemed to vibrate from off of the monitor. My heart was thudding heavily in my chest. Whatever it was that was linking the two of us together, it was strong. The ties were still there. As much as had happened, they'd yet to be severed completely. When they were, I could only forsee misery.

Walk away, Chloe, I thought to myself. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and walk away.

Joshua's voice filled my ears. "He sucker punched me, Chlo. He deserved what was coming to him."

It was the perfect analogy for what was going on between Geoff and I. It wasn't really clear who was responsible for the sucker punching, but the aftermath was deserved on both of our ends. There wasn't going to be any walking away. Eventually we were going to come to a head, and in a way that would surpass that night in the restroom. It was coming, it was going to be intense, and there was going to be no walking away.

"Good night, Geoff," I typed in.

"Good night, Chloe," his screen instantly shined back.

I signed off and retreated to my room. I lay in silence, staring at the ceiling for over an hour before I finally drifted off to sleep.